Poetry Pea - haiku and other English Language Japanese short forms

Can a haiku be lyrical without relying on verbs? Can a handful of carefully chosen nouns carry all the emotional weight a poem needs?
In this second episode exploring the poetry of nouns, Patricia examines how concrete images create resonance, rhythm and lyricism in haiku and senryū. Drawing on poems by:
Alan Summers
Radostina Dragostinova
Hifsa Ashraf
Laura Driscoll
Sharon Lynne Yee
Mark Gilbert
Paul m
Christopher Peys
Máire Morrissey-Cummins
Lovette Carter
Katie Montagna
James Young
Eve Castle
Kikaku
Patricia explores the idea that the reader becomes a co-poet, discovering meaning in the spaces between images.
Along the way, you'll hear discussions of the arrested moment, juxtaposition, movement without verbs, and the surprising musicality that emerges from noun-heavy poetry.
Whether you're an experienced haiku poet or just beginning your journey into Japanese short-form poetry, this episode offers practical insights into writing more evocative, image-driven work.
In this episode:
Why concrete nouns can create powerful lyricism
Haiku without verbs and the illusion of movement
The role of juxtaposition and reader participation
The "arrested moment" in lyric poetry

The Poetry Pea Podcast is a weekly podcast for haiku, senryū and haibun writers, featuring poetry, craft discussions, interviews and inspiration for poets around the world.
Show notes

In this episode of the Poetry Pea Podcast, we explore why haiku has often been described as "the poetry of the noun" and ask whether removing verbs and limiting adjectives can make a poem even more powerful.
Through close readings of haiku by John Wills, Elizabeth Searle Lamb, Charles Rossiter, Noel King, Choshi, Anne Curran, and Bisshie, we discover how concrete nouns create atmosphere, emotion and meaning without explanation. We look at Edward Hirsch's idea of the "arrested moment" and Michael Dylan Welch's advice to write not about your feelings, but about what caused them.
Can a poem made almost entirely of nouns hold a reader's attention? Can omission create deeper emotional resonance than description? And how we should trust readers to make their own connections?
If you write or love haiku, senryū, Japanese poetry, imagist poetry, or minimalist writing, this episode offers practical insights and examples to inspire your own work.
Plus, there's a new writing challenge: can you create a noun-heavy, no-verb haiku that invites the reader to join the dots? If you can get it to me by the 16th June, 2026 it might make it into another podcast and the next journal.
Join us for an episode about the remarkable power of concrete imagery.
Links in the show notes

In this episode of the Poetry Pea Podcast, Patricia shares a fresh collection of haiku and senryu from Poetry Pea’s much-loved Flashku submissions — a spontaneous 24-hour poetry challenge open to poets on the Poetry Pea mailing list.
Featuring poems by Nalini Shetty, Robert Witmer, Sébastien Revon, Emil Karla, Steve Bahr, Katie Montagna, Deborah A Bennett, Samo Kreutz, Cynthia Anderson, Sara Winteridge, John Hare, Mark Forrester, Robin Rich, Tony Williams, Vaishnavi Ramaswamy and Elliot Diamond
Along the way there’s a heartfelt apology to Ralph Matthews for previously misspelling his name in the journal — now happily corrected.
The episode finishes with a delightful selection of one-line poems from the Poetry Pea archives and the Little Marvels anthologies, including work by Lev Hart, Kim Klugh, Nitu Yumnam, Sarah Paris, Srinivas S, Faye Brinsmead, Kat Lehmann, Willie R Bongcaron, Daniela Misso, Rashmi VeSa, Debbie Strange, Craig Kittner and Anjali Warhadpande.
If you enjoy small poems filled with observation, atmosphere and quiet surprise, this episode is for you.
Submissions for Poetry Pea’s current one-line poem window are open until 15th June. Visit the Poetry Pea website for details, workshops, submission opportunities and the latest Submission Agenda.
Episode webpage

In this episode of the Poetry Pea Podcast, we share the chosen poems from April’s Poetry Pea Video Prompt, beautifully curated by Lakshmi Iyer.
Inspired by pink skies, cricket song, twilight gardens, and fleeting moments of light, these poems explore the quiet beauty of the natural world through haiku and short-form poetry.
Featuring poems by Marion Clarke, Ralph Mathews, Kerry J Heckman, Melissa Dennison, Vaishnavi Ramaswamy, Anne Curran, Kendall Oei, Jonathan Blakeslee, Hifsa Ashraf, Kim Klugh, Tom Bierovic, Veronica Tucker, Jennifer L. Black, Tony Williams, and more.
We also include a special selection of bonus poems from Poetry Pea, Frogpond, Presence, and the wider haiku community.
Whether you’re a poet, a poetry lover, or simply looking for a few moments of calm, settle in and enjoy this celebration of contemporary haiku, senryu, and micropoetry.
Subscribe, share, and visit Poetry Pea to join our growing poetry community.
Episode notes

In this final episode of Poetry Pea’s series on lyricism in haiku and senryū, Patricia explores contemporary poems that sing—haiku and senryū rich in musicality, emotional resonance, and soaring beauty.
With recommendations and insights from some poetry friends, we journey through lyrical work from some of today’s finest poets, asking what makes a haiku truly resonate. Is it sound, rhythm, imagery—or something harder to define? Do we come up with the answer?
From birdsong and flowing rivers to moonlight, frost and bending grass, this episode celebrates poems that move us deeply without sentimentality, reminding us how much can be achieved with just a few carefully chosen words.
Don't forget to check the shownotes.